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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 9, 2013 Page 13 ciation to Finance Director Miller for providing clear guidelines in the RCA (lines 38 — 56) for future use of the program. Specific to the cost for the program, Councilmember Etten sought clarification from staff on how the program was proposed for future funding. Specific to the proposed policy and "policy guidelines," under current (Attachment A) and pro- posed (Attachment B) policies, Councilmember Etten noted that the proposed guidelines for the administrative process referred to only one type in the first of two categories, and excluded any salary adjustment. While agreeing that both categories fell under that one category, Councilmember Etten opined that if two were initially referenced, they should also be referenced further in the document, with the range from $100 to $4,000. Interim City Manager Trudgeon advised that the intent was to include all three categories, and thanked Councilmember Etten for catching that error. Councilmember Etten expressed appreciation for staff's clarification of their in- tent. Councilmember McGehee concurred with the Policy Guidelines in Attachment B as addressed by Councilmember Etten; supporting the language change from "Merit Pay" to "Merit Award;" and questioned the rationale in lowest and highest award amounts, questioning if that impacted the value of the actual award, or if it was simply intended as an acknowledgment versus financial benefit. At the request of Mayor Roe, Interim City Manager Trudgeon advised that the amount of award was at the discretion of the Department Head within an estab- lished range, with most considerably less than the high of$4,000. Recognizing that there was only a fixed amount of dollars available for Department Heads to consider, Mr. Trudgeon noted that those funds were very limited, and therefore, every time they considered such an award, it was under that due consideration. When budget funds were tight in 2008 and 2009, Mr. Trudgeon advised that most departments did not use any merit pay program, as they were all cognizant of those tight situations and available funds. While some may call the awards a "to- ken," Mr. Trudgeon assured Councilmembers that, almost to a person, everyone greatly appreciated the amount and recognition received. As noted by Interim City Manager Trudgeon, Police Chief Mathwig agreed that since there was a limited amount of money to begin with, the importance was the recognition itself; and while not everyone would receive a merit award, it required Department Heads to look at the value and determine their most valuable person. Chief Mathwig advised that his use of awards ranged as high as $800 and as low as $200; but the ongoing relationship they provided were invaluable and provided a significant benefit; therefore they were not tokens when good relationship were achieved or retained with those valuable employees.